Family Pictures

Saturday afternoon after we all got home and showered from our reunion camp we headed over for our family pictures.  It has been three years since our last family picture and we have had FOUR babies born since then.  It was definitely time.

Thanks to Kelly Hill Photography for these beautiful pictures.

This is our posterity....with another on the way:)

We are truly blessed.

Reunion

We FINALLY were able to find a time for our family reunion.  We had originally planned to do something in August before school started but it just never got planned.  It has been in the back of our minds for the last six months but nothing was panning out.  Thankfully we were able to pull something together last week.  We decided to camp locally here at South Willow Canyon just a half an hour from our home.  It worked out great!

Rick pulled our trailer up on Thursday night and we stayed until Saturday.  Our main day of fun was Friday.  It got a little chilly but we were able to bundle up in coats and blankets and stay warm by the fire.  Rick made a dutch chicken and potatoes dinner on Thursday and we enjoyed sitting around the campfire singing songs with the littles.

We stayed in the Boy Scout campground.  This campground is my favorite in South Willow.  There is a stream that runs right through it and the children had a fun time throwing rocks into the water.  Yes, we did get wet shoes and cold tootsies!

Scout and Charlie taking an afternoon nap on our bed.

Brach and Brady

Kendra and Brady

Kendra and Rafe playing the match game.

Safe and Scout making silly faces with grandma:)

The guys hanging out waiting for dinner to get ready.

                        My cute Gary strumming on the guitar.

Henry watching his dad play some tunes.

campfire scene....

I celebrated my 51st birthday on Friday night surrounded by my family.  Kendra made this delicious cake for our dessert.

                                        Piñata time!!

Cute Henry wearing part of the piñata.

All of these pictures were given to me by someone else because my phone was dead THE WHOLE TIME we were at the reunion.  Another fun thing that we did but didn't get any pictures of is bottle rockets.  The kids each decorated their own rocket and then with the help of grandpa and Uncle Brach, they got to shoot them up in the sky many times.  Then we got to chase them wherever they landed.  Sometimes they landed in the stream, sometimes on dry ground, and poor Scoutie's ended up in a huge pine tree never to be seen again.

Even though our reunion was close to home and relatively short it was a fun time playing games, riding ATV's, fishing, singing around the campfire, crafting with the kids,, and ultimately just being together.

Utah State Fair

September is the month for the Utah State Fair.  A couple of weeks ago Rick and I along with Kaitlyn, Haivyn, and Merik went on a Monday night to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the fair.  I love the fair.  We don't get to go every year but if our schedules permit then we try to get there. 

This year I wanted to get to a cooking class.  I learned about making bread and soup in a dutch oven.  To be honest, I probably will never make bread, or soup for that matter, in a dutch oven but I love to learn about it!  After we each got a test of the delicious bread and soup the door prizes were called out. Haivyn won a CAL RANCH hat and Kaitlyn won a small backpack.  

Isn't Haivyn so cute!

After the food demo we stopped over to get a bite to eat.  These street tacos were delish but seriously, we spent about 50 bucks for dinner on fair food!  Anyway.....

I didn't get any pictures of us with the animals but they are always fun to see at the fair.  My personal favorite are the milk cows.  Haivyn liked the ginormous pigs. and she liked petting the sheep.  We also enjoyed walking around the exhibition area.  We found a book shop and bought a couple of books for the kids.  Merik was an angel the whole time.  Nothing new.  He's an angel baby!

While Merik and I hung back 

Rick, Kait, and Haivyn got to ride on the ferris wheel.  

Fun times at the fair!

Fall Soccer

Henry started playing soccer this year with his dad as the coach.  While it is great fun to watch the little children running around trying to kick the ball, the biggest thrill I have is to watch my grown son interact with the children and try to teach them the basics of soccer.  

Skylar is a fun coach and has done a good job of learning all of the kids' names from the very first game. There are ten of them.  He has been having practices each week trying to teach the kids how to play the basics of this sport.  He has done a good job helping all of the kids to get equal playtime, rounding the kids up (when they're out in left field so to speak) and teaching the children about sportsmanship.  He is really animated with the kids and it has been great fun for me to watch.  

Sarah has also been a great help from the sidelines keeping things in order there. ....and being the treat assigner. The kids love halftime and the end of the game for the fun treats brought by the parents.  They are all so cute!!

Coach Skylar and Henry

A before game stretch.....